Nearly 300 sixth-graders participate in rocket-building exercise

Saturday

Apr 7, 2018 at 6:00 AMApr 10, 2018 at 4:12 PM

By Drew Taylor Staff Writer

Sipsey Valley Middle School had something to prove.

On Friday, a couple of dozen sixth-graders from Sipsey Valley went to the University of Alabama to reclaim their title as champions of the annual Tuscaloosa Rocketry Challenge, facing off against nearly 300 other students from across the city of Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County.

During the challenge, each student fired off rockets made from two-liter bottles, each filled with 720 milliliters of water with pressure up to 80 pounds per square inch. With a pull from a string, the release from the pressure would be enough to hurl some bottles close to 100 yards.

Each student from Sipsey Valley wore a blue shirt with a rocket on the front and "Defending 2017 Champions" on the back.

"The kids have really been getting into it this year," said Lesia Sellers, a science teacher at Sipsey Valley Middle School.

The challenge, in its fourth year, has grown from a humble enterprise to something bigger over the years. Karson Holmes, co-director of the Tuscaloosa Rocketry Challenge and a mechanical engineering student at the University of Alabama, got involved in the challenge in its second year, when the only schools involved were Duncanville, Echols and Hillcrest middle schools. Then, the competition was not big enough to be held at UA.

This year, nearly 350 students from 11 schools took to the university’s recreation fields to fire off water-powered rockets. Many of these teams came to the university Friday after winning their own school-wide competitions the previous week.

"It’s been incredible to see the number of students we have been reaching grow," Holmes said. "Bringing it on campus was an incredible experience for our kids and it can get them excited for getting them to here."

For Sipsey Valley, a lot of pressure was put on students to perform well, especially for Jack Snider, a sixth-grader with a love for technology. He took inspiration from entrepreneur Elon Musk to create his rocket, "The Falcon." The rocket was named after "Falcon Heavy," a spacecraft designed by Musk’s SpaceX company to take people to the moon. Recently, the company announced it would no longer be planning crewed missions to the moon with the spacecraft.

"It’s been really exciting," Snider said.

When it was Snider’s turn to fire his rocket, his team cheered. Even though the landing was less than ideal, Snider still had fun.

"It was great," Snider said.

By the end of the day, Sipsey Valley came in second place with its rockets traveling a combined distance of 2,373 feet. The overall champion was Echols Middle School with a combined distance of 2,408 feet.

"The kids have been so excited about all this," said Amy Williams, a science teacher at Echols.

For some schools, the challenge was a new experience this year. For the first time, Westlawn Middle School was represented with a team. The school earned fifth place in the competition with 2,034 feet. Kevin Zanders, a science teacher at Westlawn, said the experience was wonderful for his students.

"Things like this show what they could do one day if they wanted to," Zanders said. "It helps to be able to see things outside the box."